There is a simplicity to war. Attacking is the only secret. Dare - and the world yields. How quickly do they forget that all it takes to change history... is the will of a single pony.
What is the simplest way to win a war?
If you were a pony, you would probably say friendship.
If you were a changeling, you would probably say deception.
If you were a dragon, you would probably say force.
They however don't realize that it takes a combination of the three being formulated in such a way that can be executed without question by the soldier's under a general's command or a group of rebels being lead by a radical leader. Friendship leads to alliance. Deception leads to confusion in the enemies command. And force... well... leads to painstakingly careful plans of attack that is designed to keep your soldiers alive, but also kill your enemies in the process. The most important thing to note however is the fact that friendship does play a crucial role in warfare that most ponies who have never served never truly understand.
Its the bond between your brothers in arms that you truly care about. The great thing about that is that they can come from anywhere, come from any linage, and their genders don't really matter. Same applies with their race too. A pegasus can get along with a unicorn just as good as any other pony when it comes down to war. It is only when deception and battle is introduced by the enemy that the powerful bond of soldiers becomes tested. It is at that point in time where a choice about your brothers is made.
And, unfortunately, soldiers rarely have enough time to think on that decision...
Here is the story of five soldiers. All from different places, with different likes and dislikes, with different personalities, but all have one goal that they care about enough that they were courageous enough to enter into a war that will test their friendship.
When the world is at a breaking point and the homeland of Equestria is within the grasp of a madpony whose agenda only consists of changing the world for his own liking, it is these five ponies who will pull the pieces of a planet back together before nothing but ruins and desolate countries remain after the wave of hate passes.
Or they will die trying.
Chapter I: Part I - The Range
Tracking...
Locating: P.F.C Phoenix Light
Status: IA
Location: COB Herald, Kyrgyzstan
Briefing: Your name is Phoenix Light. Private First Class Phoenix Light from Manehattan Special Forces Unit. Previously a police officer, you joined the Equestrian Army for a change in pace from normal city life. In order to prepare yourself for this, you enrolled in Canterlot's Training Camp and graduated after five months. Along with some of your other friends in the camp, you are being deployed to the Middle Eastern countries. You, in particular, are being deployed to Kyrgyzstan forty miles southeast of Bishkek.
Current Mission: Find your assigned group and meet up with its Sargent. Prove your skills in the training grounds and await to be deployed on your first mission.
'Snap Back'
COB Herald, Kyrgyzstan
PFC. Phoenix Light
You land in a barracks type of building with several lights hanging from the ceiling. Most of the Florescent Light Bulbs were working but you find that a few were either burnt out or broken. That was a job for a unicorn to deal with. Not you, your just an average earth pony soldier. Unicorns were assigned tedious jobs like engineering and maintenance, pegasi were usually officers or in the Air Force, and the earth ponies were widely spreed out as there were more of them than there are of any other pony species. Most of them were focused on the Army while the others were in the Navy and Coast Guard. The Air Force was made up almost entirely by pegasi and the unicorns who weren't engineers and officers were typically in the SEALS.
You break from your trance when a dusty brown earth pony in sandy desert camouflage and a helmet walked in. The two pointed stripes on his uniform indicated that he was a Corporal. He took his helmet off revealing a greasy brown mane that probably didn't do him many favors in the heat. The Corporal however, looked as if he didn't care or he ignored it. His Cutie Mark was of a spotlight. He sets his helmet down on a table and finally acknowledges your existence.
"New guy huh?" the Corporal asked.
You nod immediately in response.
"Good. I was wondering when the new recruit was going to finally show up," the Corporal added as he held out his hoof.
You take the Corporal's offer of friendship and shake his hoof. The Corporal smiles a bit and then says,
"My name's Show Stopper. You are being assigned to Sargent Nightlight in the Gamma 15 Division. Report there. He and the other members of his group should be there waiting for you."
A telephone at the end of the barracks begins to ring. Show Stopper looks over to it and rolls his eyes. He trots over to the phone, picks it up, and answers it. Well, no need to eavesdrop on your superior officer. You open the door to the outside and you are immediately greeted with the dry, hot air of Kyrgyzstan. All around are other soldiers training and running by as they try to keep themselves fit and healthy despite the harsh conditions. You see rows upon rows of military vehicles of all kinds. Some with heavy plated armor, and others that seem to be made for more mobility than others. Every so often you see a helicopter flying above the flying over the base or taking off into the horizon.
On your way to another barracks to see if Nightlight was waiting there for you, you spot a heavy armored tank. The tank had several dents and scratches that indicated use and the fact that the swivel mount where the .50 Caliber Machine Gun typically rested was now damaged indicated a very recent skirmish with the locals. There was grey pony with an Assault Rifle laying on top of the entrance hatch to the tank. You wave to him and he gives you a slight wave back with a bloody, broken hoof.
You continue on your way and finally make it to the other barracks. The large metal doors that were mounted on the front was wide open and five other earth ponies were there playing some sort of card game. By the looks of it, the dark orange pony with glasses did not seem to have the best of luck today as the other four had at least three cigarette packs each while he had none. The maroon pony with black stripes under his eyes looked at the orange pony and chuckled.
"Ya got anythin' left to bet son?"
"Ah shut the hell up Chip," the orange pony growled as she fished in his pocket and pulled yet another pack of cigarettes out and set them on the table in front of him.
"You just don't know when to quit," a navy blue pony with a lit cigarette in his mouth added as he puffed a smoke ring at the orange pony.
"Yeah," another pony with a coat color oddly similar to Show Stopper's chimed in, "You could've saved yourself a few packs of cigarettes."
"Well its not like any of you guys bring anything else to bet with."
Then the one pony with a greyish-blue coat and orange eyes looked over from his cards over to you. He looked back over to the dark blue pony and said,
"Oi, boss. You got a visitor."
The blue pony coughed and looked over to where everypony else was looking, right at you. He got up from the table and trotted to you with sure, confident hooves that made a chill run up your spine. Then, the pony broke out into a thin smile which added to the chills.
"So your the one they call Phoenix?"
You nod.
"Aren't ye' a little too green to be named that?" the pony called Chip said as he took notice of your emerald green coat and dirty blonde mane.
"There are green phoenixes. Only one has been spotted, but it had a massive influence on fictional works," the pony with the glasses interrupted.
"Radar, name one book that has a green phoenix in it," the green-blue pony challenged as he shook a bit of cigarette ash off of his smoke.
"Have any or you read the 'Fallout' book series? There's a green phoenix in that."
Then all at once, every soldier in the barracks looked over at the orange pony and yelled in unison,
"NERD!"
The pony named Radar gave them all a hard look and threw his hand down onto the table showing an ace of clubs, an ace of diamonds, an ace of hearts, a king of clubs, and a queen of Spades. The ponies who were still playing looked on at the pony with the amazing hand and fell silent.
"Am I the only pony who wonders why a nerd like me is able to always beat you on your last hand?" Radar chuckled as he took all of the cigarette packs (except the dark blue pony's) and stuffed them into his backpack.
"Lucky bastard," Chip grumbled as he took a long drag from his cigarette.
The blue pony in front of you just shook his head. He took a deep breath and then said,
"My name is Sargent Nightlight. You are now a member of the Gamma 15 Division. This is Chip," Nightlight said as the maroon pony nodded in response.
"Radar," Nightlight continued as the orange pony with glasses looked up at his officer with a lit cigarette in his mouth.
"Desert Wind," he added as the sand colored pony gave a little wave of his hoof.
"And Cold Front," Nightlight finished as the blue-green pony with a grey mane twitched his ear in acknowledgment.
"So your the new recruit eh? Might as well put him through the test track to see how well he does," Desert Wind said as he folded his hand.
Sargent Nightlight grinned at this idea.
"C'mon Phoenix. It should only take a few minutes at most."
The Sargent then walked over to a tall, wooden structure with a ladder leading up to the top. Both of you climb the ladder to the top and find a special course that depicted a single story building with multiple targets and arrows spray painted on the floor and the walls. The building didn't have a roof nor any glass windows. On the platform was also several open weapon crates with different guns and pistols. There was also a rope that lead down into the course with four Flashbangs sitting beside it. Hanging next to the boxes, was a specialized belt system designed for Earth Pony soldiers that would allow them to hold and maneuver weapons easily in combat; an ExoPony.
An ExoPony is lightweight, carbon-steel alloy exoskeleton designed by a few engineers in a Hoofington R&D center back about thirty years ago. The suit was primarily made for the use of Earth Ponies as the need for strong boned soldiers reached a high demand as Equestria could not continue to funnel pegasi into the Trottrian War effort. Equestria at the time believed that pegasi were the most elite in terms of fighting and agility and were constantly being drafted into war. It was a good idea for the first few years until ponies realized that the weather became a lot harder to control and keep on schedule without them.
In response to this dilemma, several unicorns came together and designed an easier way to hold weapons for ponies without using the previously issued mouth trigger mechanism. It allowed two weapons of any kind to be mounted onto each of the pony's sides and to be fired by a simple computer system installed onto every military helmet. However, in order to prevent a pony from friendly fire, bullets firing at a friendly target would typically pass through the target through the use of a build in Friendly Fire Spell Program or FFSP. This installment alone has saved many soldiers from accidental misfires and stray shots that would normally kill a pony.
Another interesting feature about the ExoPony's Central Targeting System (CTS) was that it was able to tell how many bullets were left in a weapon and give a nice suggestion of reloading in order to save time. This, along with the ability to pick up and drop guns at a moments notice, was later combined with an "Objective HUD" and Compass so that a soldier could know exactly where to go at any given time. It even gives an approximate distance before arrival at the objective.
The basic issue of how an Earth Pony was going to shoot a gun became simpler and simpler after each ExoPony model. Originally it had a firing bit that a pony would grip with their mouth and pull in order to shoot and reload at the same time. This idea worked for a while until changes needed to be made because of miscommunication through mouth bits. Then a pony by the name of Bronze Weaving had the idea where a pony's mind could be hooked up to their gun and they could shoot just by thinking. The premise was the same as telepathy and the execution was nearly the same. From then on, ExoPonies had a telepathic link bit that hooked up to the soldier's helmet and triggered whenever they wanted to take a shot.
"Alright," Nightlight began as he walked over to the rope and pointed down at the course, "your mission is to get to the end of the course as fast as possible with as much precision as possible. You will be given an Assault Rifle and a Pistol along with your standard issue Combat Knife for close encounters. You have to go from position to position and follow every order I give you as fast as possible without hesitation.
"From there you will return to the top of this platform and wait your your next assignment. Grab your guns and Flashbangs and get ready."
You walk over to the weapon crates and open them. In this crate was a M4A1 Assault Rifle with standard iron sights and a twenty-five round magazine. The second box contains a G36C Assault Rifle with iron sights and twenty-five round magazine. The third box had an M16A4 with iron sights and twenty-five round magazine. Sitting on the table next to the heavy guns were two different pistols. One was a M9 with iron sights and a ten round magazine and an USP .45 with an eight round magazine and a shorter barrel resulting in more firepower at closer range than the M9.
You look at the guns, lost deep in thought.
You are now weighing your options...
And you have chosen to use the G36C Assault Rifle with the USP .45 Pistol.
Author's Note
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